Well, it's that time of year again. Welcome to the Ultimate Game of the Year Awards, 2016 edition!
We've done this twice already in the past. The first year, 2014, was done in a series of blog posts, whereas 2015 had its own two-part video. This time, however, I have a lost less time to spare than I have in the past, and I'm also all on my own.
So instead of making this time a super big deal, I just decided to list off who I thought was the winners and losers this year and leave it at that. If I feel like something needs to be elaborated on, I'll add a small extra piece -- but for the most part, it will just be a brief listing.
Best Story
Nominees:
Final Fantasy XV
Uncharted 4
Oxenfree
Firewatch
Dark Souls III
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Winner:
Uncharted 4
Best Soundtrack
Nominees:
Pokemon: Sun and Moon
Final Fantasy XV
Uncharted 4
Overwatch
DOOM
Rez Infinite
Winner:
Final Fantasy XV
Best Visuals
Nominees:
Final Fantasy XV
Uncharted 4
DOOM
Battlefield 1
Dark Souls III
Hitman
INSIDE
Winner:
Uncharted 4
Best Remaster
Nominees:
Valkyria Chronicles
Day of the Tentacle
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Gravity Rush
Winner:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Best Party Game
Nominees:
Pokemon GO
Pokken Tournament
Dragon Quest Builders
Winner:
Pokemon GO
This award universally seems to be fading in relevance as time goes on. After all, what is a party game? I don't even know. Anyway, I decided to choose Pokemon GO as the winner of this award simply because it really is a game that you go out with a party and play.
Most Anticipated Game
Nominees:
FF7 Remake
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Kingdom Hearts III
The Last of Us: Part II
Death Stranding
Nioh
Persona 5
Winner:
Nioh
Best Online
Nominees:
Overwatch
Battlefield 1
Titanfall 2
Street Fighter V
World of Warcraft: Legion
Winner:
Overwatch
Hall of Fame Entry:
Akira Yamaoka, best known for his work as composer for the Silent Hill franchise
Best Action/Adventure Game
Nominees:
Hitman
Dishonored 2
Firewatch
Uncharted 4
Winner:
Uncharted 4
Best Shooter Game
Nominees:
Titanfall 2
Rainbow Six Siege
Gears of War 4
Battlefield 1
DOOM
Overwatch
Winner:
DOOM
Best RPG
Nominees:
Monster Hunter Generations
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Dark Souls III
The Banner Saga 2
Fire Emblem Fates
Pokemon: Sun and Moon
Final Fantasy XV
Winner:
Final Fantasy XV
Best Indie Game
Nominees:
The Witness
Stardew Valley
INSIDE
Hyper Light Drifter
Firewatch
Oxenfree
Winner:
Stardew Valley
Best Mobile/Handheld
Nominees:
Monster Hunter Generations
Clash Royale
Fire Emblem Fates
Pokemon: Sun and Moon
Winner:
Pokemon: Sun and Moon
The Best Mobile/Handheld category is another one that has gotten a lot of flak in recent years. In order to surpass some of the complaints people have given it, I decided to give it only to the games I felt were the most deserving -- games that were discussed a lot as real games this year rather than generic mobile trash.
Most Disappointing Game
Nominees:
No Mans Sky
Street Fighter V
Pokemon GO
Mighty No. 9
Winner:
No Mans Sky
The second year running for this award, it was much harder this time to find nominees but not hard at all to pick a winner. Still, I guess its good that not as many games that were released this year were disappointing.
Worst Company
Nominees:
Nintendo
Hello Games
EA
Ubisoft
Konami
Winner:
Nintendo
My rationale for picking Nintendo this year mostly centered around their poor business practices and choices to shut down numerous fan projects over the year. The usual baddies -- EA, Ubisoft, and Konami -- were moreso mediocre this year. And Hello Games is mostly just dull.
Best Company
Nominees:
Square Enix
Blizzard
Naughty Dog
Capcom
IO Interactive
From Software
Winner:
Square Enix
Winner for the second consecutive year in a row, Square Enix has been showing booming success all around. While in previous years it was mostly centered around theoretical decisions like announcing long awaited titles, they proved themselves this year by making up on those promises -- from games like Final Fantasy XV, World of Final Fantasy, and I Am Setsuna being released by their eastern studios, and their western counterpart Eidos Interactive releasing Hitman and Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Square Enix continues to be on the rise.
Worst Game
Nominees:
No Mans Sky
Pokemon GO
Mighty No. 9
Umbrella Corps
Winner:
No Mans Sky
And now, as always...
Previous Games of the Year
2010 - Mass Effect 2/Red Dead Redemption
2011 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2012 - Dishonored
2013 - The Last of Us/Grand Theft Auto V
2014 - Bayonetta 2
2015 - Bloodborne
And what you've all been waiting for...
Ultimate Game of the Year
Nominees:
Final Fantasy XV
Uncharted 4
Pokemon: Sun and Moon
Overwatch
Doom
Titanfall 2
Civilization VI
Fire Emblem Fates
XCOM 2
Dark Souls III
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Dishonored 2
Hitman
Stardew Valley
Winner:
Final Fantasy XV/Uncharted 4
And, for the first year since 2013, two games have tied for game of the year. Uncharted 4 was a really solid game that came in much earlier, but I had been waiting for Final Fantasy XV for years and it held my eye for the remainder of 2016. The game turned out to be one of the most enjoyable experiences I had this year... much like I had felt with Uncharted 4. As it came down to me choosing the various winners of each award, it became more and more clear to me that the winner had to be both.
Bonus: Most Nominated Games
1. Final Fantasy XV - 5 nominations
2. Uncharted 4 - 5 nominations
3. Overwatch - 4 nominations
4. DOOM - 4 nominations
5. Dark Souls III - 4 nominations
Showing posts with label 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2016. Show all posts
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Monday, June 6, 2016
E3 Predictions -- 2016 Edition
E3 is only a week away, and so far, nothing's been leaked yet (probably a new record). So, I figure I might go the same route as yesteryear and make another predictions post (though this time not separate it by conference because that's a hell of a lot of work).
- The biggest part of the upcoming E3 will be, without a doubt, the official announcement of the "upgraded" consoles -- PS4 Neo, Xbox One whatever it is, and the NX. Though these new consoles have been advertised to not replace their current systems, I feel like that's not likely. Of course, that's not an E3 prediction -- my E3 prediction is that we'll be hearing a lot about these new consoles, as well as big releases to be shown as the spearheads of the new consoles -- one or two of them might be a special surprise to get people really interested.
- Based on news I forgot, this might already be deconfirmed -- but I feel like the smartest thing for Nintendo to do right now is show off a healthy amount of the new Zelda, as well as clear up some things about the game. Zelda's status has changed a million times -- from a Wii-U exclusive, to a Wii-U and NX game, to coming out on NX first, to who knows whatever it is. I feel like an extended demo with some concrete explanation will help the game.
- For Ubisoft, we'll likely see some footage of a new Assassins Creed or Far Cry or some yearly release game, as well as some more of the For Honor game they showed off last year. For Ubisoft's mandatory "special suprise" game, we'll probably be seeing Watch Dogs 2 -- a game that was already leaked earlier this year.
- Obviously, we'll be seeing both Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Don't be surprised to see CoD trying to win back its audience after its reveal trailer bombed -- they're already announced an extended campaign demo on the floor, and they're likely to go even farther beyond that at Sony's conference.
- We'll probably see the last trailers for games coming out soon -- the most likely being The Last Guardian and FFXV. Also don't be surprised if we see even more of the FF7 Remake -- it seems like its a big deal for both Sony and Square Enix.
- As for this year's krazy prediction, I'm gonna say that there will be a FF7 Remake demo packaged with FFXV. I don't... really have anything to go off of on this. I mean, they put a FFXV demo inside Type-0, so the next logical conclusion is... this? Listen, my main reasoning for doing this is because I've had a strange feeling it was going to happen and if it does I want to say that I had a sick E3 2016 premonition.
Well, those are all my predictions for this year. I'll be sure to make a predictions review and wrap up post similar to how I did last year for E3. There will also probably be an episode of the AstukaGaming Podcast dedicated to E3, though it will take place a few days later.
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- The biggest part of the upcoming E3 will be, without a doubt, the official announcement of the "upgraded" consoles -- PS4 Neo, Xbox One whatever it is, and the NX. Though these new consoles have been advertised to not replace their current systems, I feel like that's not likely. Of course, that's not an E3 prediction -- my E3 prediction is that we'll be hearing a lot about these new consoles, as well as big releases to be shown as the spearheads of the new consoles -- one or two of them might be a special surprise to get people really interested.
- Based on news I forgot, this might already be deconfirmed -- but I feel like the smartest thing for Nintendo to do right now is show off a healthy amount of the new Zelda, as well as clear up some things about the game. Zelda's status has changed a million times -- from a Wii-U exclusive, to a Wii-U and NX game, to coming out on NX first, to who knows whatever it is. I feel like an extended demo with some concrete explanation will help the game.
- For Ubisoft, we'll likely see some footage of a new Assassins Creed or Far Cry or some yearly release game, as well as some more of the For Honor game they showed off last year. For Ubisoft's mandatory "special suprise" game, we'll probably be seeing Watch Dogs 2 -- a game that was already leaked earlier this year.
- Obviously, we'll be seeing both Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Don't be surprised to see CoD trying to win back its audience after its reveal trailer bombed -- they're already announced an extended campaign demo on the floor, and they're likely to go even farther beyond that at Sony's conference.
- We'll probably see the last trailers for games coming out soon -- the most likely being The Last Guardian and FFXV. Also don't be surprised if we see even more of the FF7 Remake -- it seems like its a big deal for both Sony and Square Enix.
- As for this year's krazy prediction, I'm gonna say that there will be a FF7 Remake demo packaged with FFXV. I don't... really have anything to go off of on this. I mean, they put a FFXV demo inside Type-0, so the next logical conclusion is... this? Listen, my main reasoning for doing this is because I've had a strange feeling it was going to happen and if it does I want to say that I had a sick E3 2016 premonition.
Well, those are all my predictions for this year. I'll be sure to make a predictions review and wrap up post similar to how I did last year for E3. There will also probably be an episode of the AstukaGaming Podcast dedicated to E3, though it will take place a few days later.
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Monday, March 7, 2016
Academy Awards 2016 Recap
Oh, yeah. The Academy Awards happened. Anyway, I figured I'd make a response video to my predictions (not hopefuls to keep it short) on what I thought would win versus what actually won. I'm also only doing the major awards, since those are the only ones that are important/I remember the winners to.
"Best Picture: The Martian"
No idea why in the world I chose this one to win. I knew it wouldn't be Mad Max (not drama) and I also knew it wouldn't be The Revenant (very few directors have gotten Best Picture twice in a row). I guess people still liked The Martian at this point so I just figured it was the best throwaway answer? Spotlight winning did surprise me at the time, but looking back on it now it seemed really obvious. The movie 100% passed the Oscar checklist, and it also wasn't Mad Max or The Revenant.
"Actor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne"
Also no idea why I chose Redmayne over DiCaprio. Though it would be hilarious to see Redmayne win over Leo in another oscar-bait role, Leo was obvious from the very beginning. Seriously, the entire Oscars promotion leading up to the Show (even in the Pre-Show) was hyping up DiCaprio's win. If you didn't see this coming, welcome to the Academy Awards, cause this must be your first time.
"Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett"
I don't even remember who won this award. I think it was Allison Brie? Wasn't she in a comedy movie once? Eh, whatever.
"Actor in a Supporting Role: Tom Hardy"
I think this went to some dude who played a Russian in Bridge of Spies won this award. To be fair, I heard a lot of people say that he was the only reason they stayed awake for that movie, and his reel footage seemed pretty good, so maybe the award was well deserved.
"Actress in a Supporting Role: Rooney Mara"
This was kind of a throwaway pick as well. I knew Jennifer Jason Leigh likely wasn't going to win the award, but I didn't really see anyone else who would've gotten it besides Mara who was probably the most popular person in the list. Instead, they gave it to Vikander. Not much special with this award.
"Animated Feature Film: Inside Out"
They just can't keep getting away with it! Okay, sure -- maybe it was weird for Anomalisa to be there in the first place. And Ghibli's bid this year wasn't as good as its been in the past. But this Disney-Pixar domination in the Animated category is just straight up getting dull. I wouldn't be surprised if they flip it next year and give it to someone else.
"Directing: George Miller"
This was probably the biggest (unfortunate) surprise of the night. Not only did Innaritu (?) seem unlikely to win Director two years in a row, but George Miller actually had a pretty strong case for Best Director, seeing as he had been working on the film for such a long time. It's not that I don't like Innaritu, its just that I don't think he deserved the award this time around.
"Documentary Feature: The Look of Silence"
Another fairly unfortunate surprise. I mean seriously, who cares about Amy Winehouse? Besides, The Look of Silence also fit perfectly into the criteria the Academy uses to choose winners, and yet it lost anyway.
"Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul"
Fortunately, no surprises here -- Son of Saul did win. To be fair, none of the other films in this list had any traction, so if there was a surprise in this category, it would be a pretty big surprise in deed.
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"Best Picture: The Martian"
No idea why in the world I chose this one to win. I knew it wouldn't be Mad Max (not drama) and I also knew it wouldn't be The Revenant (very few directors have gotten Best Picture twice in a row). I guess people still liked The Martian at this point so I just figured it was the best throwaway answer? Spotlight winning did surprise me at the time, but looking back on it now it seemed really obvious. The movie 100% passed the Oscar checklist, and it also wasn't Mad Max or The Revenant.
"Actor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne"
Also no idea why I chose Redmayne over DiCaprio. Though it would be hilarious to see Redmayne win over Leo in another oscar-bait role, Leo was obvious from the very beginning. Seriously, the entire Oscars promotion leading up to the Show (even in the Pre-Show) was hyping up DiCaprio's win. If you didn't see this coming, welcome to the Academy Awards, cause this must be your first time.
"Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett"
I don't even remember who won this award. I think it was Allison Brie? Wasn't she in a comedy movie once? Eh, whatever.
"Actor in a Supporting Role: Tom Hardy"
I think this went to some dude who played a Russian in Bridge of Spies won this award. To be fair, I heard a lot of people say that he was the only reason they stayed awake for that movie, and his reel footage seemed pretty good, so maybe the award was well deserved.
"Actress in a Supporting Role: Rooney Mara"
This was kind of a throwaway pick as well. I knew Jennifer Jason Leigh likely wasn't going to win the award, but I didn't really see anyone else who would've gotten it besides Mara who was probably the most popular person in the list. Instead, they gave it to Vikander. Not much special with this award.
"Animated Feature Film: Inside Out"
They just can't keep getting away with it! Okay, sure -- maybe it was weird for Anomalisa to be there in the first place. And Ghibli's bid this year wasn't as good as its been in the past. But this Disney-Pixar domination in the Animated category is just straight up getting dull. I wouldn't be surprised if they flip it next year and give it to someone else.
"Directing: George Miller"
This was probably the biggest (unfortunate) surprise of the night. Not only did Innaritu (?) seem unlikely to win Director two years in a row, but George Miller actually had a pretty strong case for Best Director, seeing as he had been working on the film for such a long time. It's not that I don't like Innaritu, its just that I don't think he deserved the award this time around.
"Documentary Feature: The Look of Silence"
Another fairly unfortunate surprise. I mean seriously, who cares about Amy Winehouse? Besides, The Look of Silence also fit perfectly into the criteria the Academy uses to choose winners, and yet it lost anyway.
"Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul"
Fortunately, no surprises here -- Son of Saul did win. To be fair, none of the other films in this list had any traction, so if there was a surprise in this category, it would be a pretty big surprise in deed.
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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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Monday, January 18, 2016
Academy Awards 2016 -- Predictions and Hopefuls
With the Oscar nomination list just recently announced, I'd figure I'd bite (despite only seeing three of the movies on the list) and make a list both of the movies I want to see win as well as ones that I think are more likely to actually win -- separated as hopefuls and predictions respectively. Since most of these movies I'm just going on general praise and word of mouth I'm not gonna have any big discussion on any of them -- just lay down what I think and then maybe after the awards have a recap, similar to how its done with the E3 predictions. Anyway, here are the lists:
Actor in a Leading Role: Leonardo DiCaprio
Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett
Actor in a Supporting Role: N/A
Actress in a Supporting Role: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Animated Feature Film: Anomalisa
Cinematography: The Revenant
Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
Directing: George Miller
Documentary Feature: The Look of Silence
Documentary Short: N/A
Film Editing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road
Music -- Original Score: The Hateful Eight
Music -- Original Song: N/A
Production Design: N/A
Short Film (Animated): N/A
Short Film (Live Action): N/A
Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Sound Mixing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Visual Effects: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Writing (Adapted): The Martian
Writing (Original): Straight Outta Compton
Actor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne
Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett
Actor in a Supporting Role: Tom Hardy
Actress in a Supporting Role: Rooney Mara
Animated Feature Film: Inside Out
Cinematography: The Revenant
Costume Design: Carol
Directing: George Miller
Documentary Feature: The Look of Silence
Documentary Short: Last Day of Freedom
Film Editing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Makeup and Hairstyling: The Revenant
Music -- Original Score: The Hateful Eight
Music -- Original Song: Writing's on the Wall
Production Design: The Martian
Short Film (Animated): Sanjay's Super Team
Short Film (Live Action): Stutterer
Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Sound Mixing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Visual Effects: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Writing (Adapted): The Martian
Writing (Original): Spotlight
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Hopefuls:
Best Picture: Mad Max: Fury RoadActor in a Leading Role: Leonardo DiCaprio
Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett
Actor in a Supporting Role: N/A
Actress in a Supporting Role: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Animated Feature Film: Anomalisa
Cinematography: The Revenant
Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
Directing: George Miller
Documentary Feature: The Look of Silence
Documentary Short: N/A
Film Editing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road
Music -- Original Score: The Hateful Eight
Music -- Original Song: N/A
Production Design: N/A
Short Film (Animated): N/A
Short Film (Live Action): N/A
Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Sound Mixing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Visual Effects: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Writing (Adapted): The Martian
Writing (Original): Straight Outta Compton
Predictions:
Best Picture: The MartianActor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne
Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett
Actor in a Supporting Role: Tom Hardy
Actress in a Supporting Role: Rooney Mara
Animated Feature Film: Inside Out
Cinematography: The Revenant
Costume Design: Carol
Directing: George Miller
Documentary Feature: The Look of Silence
Documentary Short: Last Day of Freedom
Film Editing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Makeup and Hairstyling: The Revenant
Music -- Original Score: The Hateful Eight
Music -- Original Song: Writing's on the Wall
Production Design: The Martian
Short Film (Animated): Sanjay's Super Team
Short Film (Live Action): Stutterer
Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Sound Mixing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Visual Effects: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Writing (Adapted): The Martian
Writing (Original): Spotlight
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